The Loved One
by lilyflower666
Summary: "He was the loved one?" Anzu asked.


**So, probably not what you wanted or were expecting. I do not own Yugioh. Enjoy!**

 **The Loved One**

 _"_ _Yugi Mutou to office room three, please. Yugi Mutou to office room three."_

Yugi stood from his chair in utter bewilderment. What was going on that he was needed in office room three? It must be important if he was being pulled from class. Maybe his Grandpa had hurt his back again, or was going on an excavation? Whatever the case, office room three was only for important phone calls. Everyone knew that.

Walking down the halls of Domino High he started to imagine what the call could possibly be. And, like most of us, his brain slowly started to come up with the worst of scenarios. So by the time he got to the office, he was already feeling trepidation about picking phone up off the table. He did it though, placing it to his ear.

"This is Yugi Mutou."

 _"_ _Hello, Mr. Mutou I'm Dr. Freedia of the Domino Hospital. You might want to sit down if you're not already."_

"Um, why?" Yugi swallowed a lump in his throat. No good conversation ever started with Doctors at Hospitals.

 _"_ _This is about your Grandfather. I'm afraid he's-"_

Yugi barely heard the rest of her words. He dropped to his knees, muffling his sobs with his hand. She asked him something but the phone dropped from his hand and he didn't answer. Yugi stood back up, running to the door, he need to get out of these confined walls. He needed air.

One of the ladies was waiting by the door for him, but one look at his face told her all she needed to know. Yugi couldn't even say anything he was so upset. She just nodded, and he ran out into the hallway sending him and another person crashing to the ground. Their papers flying everywhere. He apologized, but didn't try to help them gather their papers, or help them up. He just shot back up to his feet, and ran up to the roof. Few people had access to it. He was one of those few.

Yugi crashed into the fence staring in the distance where the Kame Game shop was. Where home was. He could still see traces of the smoke rising from that area. No he hadn't wanted to believe it. It couldn't have been true, but there was the proof smoldering in the sky before him.

 _"_ _This is about your Grandfather. I'm afraid he's been in a fire. He's in critical care right now, but the chances of him surviving are only 10%. The fire has consumed the entire Kame Game shop as well as the apartments above, and three other surroundings buildings nearby. I'm so sorry to be having given you this news while at school, but you're his only contact number, and Power of Attorney. It's your decision, do you want to pull the plug?"_

Yugi sunk to his knees. This wasn't happening. This wasn't happening. His Grandfather was the only family he had left in this world. What was he supposed to do without him? How could he pull the plug on the only thing that kept him going each day? This wasn't right! What had he done to deserve this?!

Transparent hands reached out to touch his shoulders.

"Yugi, is everything all right?"

"Go away!" Yugi screamed throwing his hands out towards the transparent being.

What would surprise the average on looker though was when his hands actually made physical contact with that transparent being. Sending them back as a shove is meant to. The transparent one looked shocked and appalled at Yugi's brash behavior as it was very uncharacteristic of him.

"Just leave me to my misery and unanswered questions." Yugi sunk down the fence until he was sitting with his head bowed to the ground.

The transparent one crossed their arms, and stared down at him. They looked up, and out towards where he'd been staring, then back down at him. A third eye glowed gold on their forehead, and they vanished. Yugi's body slumping lifeless against the fence a moment later.

Yugi was sitting in a blue room stacked high with games and toys. The once transparent figure leaned against his doorway. It was like they were waiting for an invitation, as it seemed without one they weren't allowed inside.

"Why'd you bring me here…Atem?"

"To help you with your unanswered questions. May I enter?" he asked gently.

"No, you're fine where you are."

"Alright," Atem replied sitting down in the doorway. Not one hair on any part of his body was inside the room, but it felt to Yugi as if his presence had somehow slipped inside.

"Go away," Yugi said turning his back on him.

"I can't do that. You're still my host, Yugi, for another two weeks before the grand ceremonial duel. If you're in turmoil than so am I. However, I don't know what is causing you so much pain. Will you tell me?"

"What difference does it make? It's like you said yourself you're only going to be here another two weeks, and then you're gone."

"Only if the _real_ Yugioh beats me. If not…then your turmoil is my turmoil."

"What if I choose to lose?" Yugi asked looking back at him.

"Now, why would you do that?"

"He only has a 10% chance of survival, Atem."

"Who does?"

"Jii-chan!"

"10% of survival from what?"

"The fire this morning. It consumed my family and home. What am I going to do without my Jii-chan? What am I going to without _you_?"

Atem sighed, seeming to give up the false pretense that he couldn't enter the room without permission and entered it now. Yugi started to crawl back from him. This worked until his back hit the edge of the bed in the room.

"How many times must we go over this? You have friends that will support you through the thick and thin when I'm long gone."

"But I only have them because of you. What if they leave me after I win against you?"

"Then I shall take great pleasure in torturing them from beyond my grave with all kinds of mummy curses."

"Are you going to infect them with a virus?" Yugi asked placing his hands on Atem's shoulders to stop his slow advance.

"Worse. I'll make sure all off their days are filled with bad luck."

"Jou doesn't get bad luck. Ever."

"I can easily change that."

"Why do you have to be such a pleaser?" Yugi asked changing the subject unexpectedly.

"Because it's you I'm trying to please."

"Atem, _please_ , it's hard enough losing my best friend. I don't want to lose you in any more ways than that."

"You've been saying that a lot lately, but you've never been just my best friend. You've always been more to me."

"Don't you understand? I'll always be comparing others to you, and none shall ever be able to take the place you have. I'm losing everything in one month. Are you sure you haven't put a mummy's curse on _me_?"

"I would never," Atem whispered wiping a tear away, and kissing his cheek softly. "Your Mother, your Grandfather, these are coincidences, nothing more."

"I'm only 17," Yugi cried falling into Atem's chest. Atem's arms came up around him automatically. "This isn't fair. How many times have we saved this planet? And the planet won't even let my family live? I don't want to lose you too."

"You're not losing me. I'll always be with you."

"Don't give me that cop out. You're going to be at peace, and I'm going to live in sorrow because I'm the one sending you there."

"Do you honestly believe that?"

"No," Yugi sighed, looking down at the soft plush blue carpet. He fiddled with some of the threads that made it.

"And what part don't you believe?"

"That I'll feel sorrow for sending you there. I mean, I will be sad, but I'll be happy too. You'll be getting the peace you've always deserved."

"And Jou, Honda, and Anzu will be there to help you forget all about me. Perhaps you and Anzu will even get married someday."

"Don't even joke," Yugi said, with a small smile pushing Atem's shoulder slightly. "You know I'm too short for her."

"Yes, I know," Atem whispered, pinching his chin, and lifting his face back up, "but you're the perfect height for me." Then he placed his lips gently against Yugi's.

Yugi's eyes widened in shock, before gently grasping his shoulders and pushing him away.

"Atem, I can't lose you as anything else besides my best friend. Please, try to understand this."

"It's hard, Yugi. You say you're losing your best friend, but I feel as if I've already lost my partner. I'm doing everything I can to get him back, but he just won't come."

"Giving you up will be one of the hardest things I will ever have to do. Don't make it harder than it has to be." Yugi leaned their foreheads together, closing his eyes to shut out Atem's beautiful face, and hurt eyes.

"One of?"

"Yes."

"And what are the other hardest things you will have to do?"

"There's only one."

"Which is?"

"Let Jii-chan go too," Yugi said, reopening his eyes to look deep into Atem's.

Atem broke eye contact as pain and turmoil reflected clearly in Yugi's eyes back at him. Atem lifted his head slightly to kiss Yugi's forehead. A touch that was at once intimate and innocent at the same time. It spoke of how much Yugi trusted him to get so close, and of how much love he had for him to still allow such a gentle touch.

"You should probably put my mind back in my body now, Atem. I need to see Dr. Freedia about Jii-chan." Yugi stood up, with Atem following suit.

"Of course."

"And…"

"Yes?"

"Can you be by my side while I do this?"

"As long as you need me to be. I'm always here for you."

"Thank you," Yugi said giving him a hug. He hesitated, before speaking again. "That means the world to me…Aibou."

"My little one," Atem murmured returning Yugi's hug.

There was a small flash of light, and then Yugi was back in his stiff body. Being slumped in an odd angle was not a comfortable thing to come back to. Stretching out his muscles, Yugi looked up to see Atem leaning casually against the fence, hands in pockets, trademark smirk in place. Handsome, lethal, cool, that was the man that Yugi had…

Atem quirked an eyebrow at him as the thought faded away. Yugi just smiled, before holding out his hand to him. Atem took it without question and the two walked back into the building together. Yugi went back to the office to tell them that he was leaving for the day.

They nodded, and let him sign himself out. Then he was walking down the sidewalks towards the Domino Hospital. When he got there, he didn't even have to ask for the room his Grandfather was in. The nurses told him which room Dr. Freedia was waiting for him in. Yugi just nodded the tears starting anew as he went to the elevators so he could get to the fifth floor.

Room 506.

Yugi stared at the number on the door for quite some time before raising his hand to knock on the door. There was slight pause on the other side, before it was opened. Dr. Freedia didn't look like she was even in her 40's yet. Dark skinned, with gentle eyes, she just stepped aside to let him in.

"I've been expecting you, Mr. Mutou, but I'm afraid we no longer need your decision on those papers."

"What?" Yugi asked looking up at her.

"He passed away peacefully not five minutes ago."

Yugi looked towards the bed to see that his Jii-chan was still upon the bed, and everything connected to him was flat lined. Dr. Freedia squeezed his shoulder, and then left, shutting the door behind her.

Yugi walked slowly to the bed, grasping his Jii-chan's papery wrinkled old hand. It was still warm, of course it was still warm she had said not five minutes ago. He dropped to his knees that hand clutched between the two of his, and cried, just cried.

Atem rubbed his back, but there wasn't much else he could do or say to console him. Yugi's grief was beyond measurable this month. His Mother being shot in that random robbery at the local food market, and now his Grandfather and home up in smoke. If he even attempted to do the unthinkable and lose the ceremonial duel on purpose though, Yugi would never forgive him. Just like he would never forgive himself if he didn't put his all into trying to beat him. Truly, this had to be a no win situation.

Yugi blinked looking up at Atem. No win? Maybe. But really, he'd known that from the very start. When Isis and Marik had told them about the ceremonial duel after they returned all of Atem's memories to him he knew he was going to lose his biggest rival, and closest ally. Still though, there was that small chance. That small chance was all he had now.

[Time skip]

Yugi stared, with tears pouring down his face like an open faucet, at Atem walking towards him with only pride shining in his eyes. He'd won. He'd won the ceremonial duel, and Atem was free. He could go on to be at peace in the afterlife.

"Yugi, thank you," Atem whispered pulling him into a hug.

Yugi hugged him back, unhooking his dueling disk from his arm as he did so. Atem stepped back, squeezing Yugi's shoulders. The pride was so strong in his eyes, you'd think it was Atem who'd just won the duel instead of Yugi.

Atem turned to the others in the room. The Kaiba brothers, Marik, Isis, Jou, Anzu, and Honda. He gave them all the usual remarks before turning back to him. He squeezed his shoulder one last time.

"It's your move, partner," Yugi said smiling.

Atem grinned back, before sticking out a thumb, and heading towards the golden archway that awaited him. Yugi took off his dueling disk, and slowly set it on the ground. Atem was almost through the doors when he sprinted after him.

"Yug!" more than one person shouted behind him.

Atem turned at the shout after passing the eye of Horus, and was nearly knocked off his feet as Yugi plowed into him. Yugi's body was thrown back into the real world as his spirit catapulted both of them further into the afterlife.

"Yugi! What have you done?!" Atem shouted as the doors started to close.

"I've decided to stay with my lover, and give up my best friend," Yugi said looking up at him, nothing but love shining in his eyes.

"Oh, my little one, you are a fool in love," Atem said back, cupping his cheek, he leaned down and kissed him. Both of their eyes sliding closed as the doors did too, with this being the last thing all of the people in the tomb saw.

They all just stood there, mouths agape, staring. Jou was the first to move, and speak.

"Well, maybe it's a good thing Gramps isn't still around. He definitely wouldn't have liked this turn of events."

"He was the loved one?" Anzu asked.

Everyone turned to her.

"What're you talking about, Anzu?" Honda asked.

"I asked Atem out at the beginning of the month but he turned me down saying he already had a loved one. A loved one that he couldn't even begin to think of betraying with anyone."

"Uh, wait, you didn't know that they've been together since the end of last year?" Mokuba asked.

"Wow, even the kid figured it out," Marik said with a low whistle.

"No, how could I?"

"By paying attention to their body language whenever they were around one another?" Kaiba asked, with a voice that asked if she was really that clueless.

"Yeah, I mean even when we went to the past to help out the Pharaoh, I mean Atem, he kissed Yugi in front of all of us," Jou pointed out. "He's not really the type to just go around kissing anybody, Anzu. It should've been obvious just from that."

"Well, since you all knew, then maybe someone should've told me so I didn't make a fool of myself?"

"I thought it was obvious," they all muttered, but since it was said at the same time, they may as well have shouted it.

The ground suddenly shook beneath their feet, and Yugi's body as well as all the millennium items fell into a deep chasm. The pillars started to crack around them. They all yelled in fright, before running back up the steps, and out of the tomb which was coming down around them.

Anzu had just barely made it out of the doorway before it collapsed behind her, spraying a cloud of dust outwards towards them. They looked behind them to see sand already pouring in to fill the open space where the tomb had previously stood.

"So, now what?" Honda asked.

"Uh, graduate high school, go to college, get married, and have lots of babies I guess," Jou answered shrugging.

"But, how're we going to explain Yugi's disappearance?" Anzu asked.

"Uh…"

Everyone turned to Seto Kaiba whether they were conscious of it or not. Kaiba sighed, and muttered something about how he knew he shouldn't have come along. He took out his phone, pressed a few numbers, and was talking into it as soon as it touched his ear. It was good to have rich friends. He finished the phone call in five minutes.

"So?" Honda asked.

"Yugi was in a car crash while in Egypt, but the body was so mangled that it was decided he should just be cremated. All you have to do now is buy an urn, and write Yugi Rida Mutou on it. We can even burn wood and put the ashes in it to help with the cover story. Now, one of you wrap this up with something he'd say."

"Well, how about, the end of one adventure could just be the beginning of another?" Jou tried.

"Thank you."

The End

 **Yeah, so something came up recently in life that made my emotions unstable. I wrote this to take care of that, and get them back in proper order so I could write the happy chapter of spof, and not the one where it takes a dive off the deep end again. And now that I've dealt with this feeling of helplessness in the best way I know how to, I can get back to happy in spof. Please review! Midnight ;p**


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